George Whitefield’s Impact on Revival

Although Whitefield himself spoke very little of the hardships he encountered, his “Journals” reveal the price he paid for the cause of Christ.  His zeal and determination took him on an amazing course of evangelistic labor.  After nine days of preaching in Philadelphia in the spring of 1740, he set out for New York.  A seven-hour journey on horseback brought him to the home of Mr. Tennent at Neshaminy, where a congregation of 5,000 awaited him.

“When I got there (he writes) my body, through heat and labor was so weak and faint, that my knees smote one against another, my visage changed, and I was ready to drop down as soon as I had finished my prayer.  But God was pleased to revive me.  Great numbers were melted. . . .” But despite his weakness, he traveled another eight miles that night and another sixteen the following morning. This brought him to the Dutch settlement of Shippack, where he reported:

Thursday, April 24. . . “It was seemingly a very wilderness part of the country but there were no less, I believe, than two thousand hearers. . . Traveling and preaching in the sun again, weakened me much and made me very sick; but by the Divine assistance, I took horse, rode twelve miles, and preached in the evening to about 3,000 people at a Dutchman’s plantation. . .” Read more »